Darkness Still Remains
by Slytherin1992
Summary: Scorpius is heading off to his second year at Hogwarts, but before he leaves he finds out something that distances himself from his father. Can things be made right between them? And who is sending Scorpius mysterious letters? Sequel to A Fresh Start.
1. Draco and Scorpius' Bad Day

**So this is the sequel to A Fresh Start. It could probably stand on its own, but it would probably make more sense to read A Fresh Start before reading this one. I hope you guys enjoy this story. I'm sure I'm going to have parts in this story with Narcissa and Andromeda which will go along with the one-shot Sisters as well. So here we go…**

**Chapter 1 Draco and Scorpius' Bad Day**

Summer was flying by like a speeding firebolt. June soon became the end of August, and Scorpius and Draco were both preparing for their return to Hogwarts as student and teacher respectively. Scorpius couldn't wait to be back in the Gryffindor dorm with his best friends Albus Potter and Rose Weasley. He was getting restless at home and couldn't wait to be able to use magic again without risking the wrath of the Ministry of Magic or his father.

"Scorpius, I have to go to a meeting at Hogwarts in less than twenty minutes! Get out of bed so that I can get you over to Malfoy Manor!" Draco yelled pounding on his twelve year old son's door.

"Five more minutes," Scorpius mumbled, only semi-coherently in reply.

"We don't have time for you to lay in bed any longer," Draco replied agitated, giving up on the knocking and walking straight into the room, "Now get out of bed this instant or I will not be above forcing you to do so!"

Scorpius reluctantly rolled over in bed and gave Draco a glare that was truly worthy of the near teenager he was.

"Fine, but I'm not going to be happy about it," Scorpius replied getting out of the bed and heading off to the bathroom.

"I never asked that you would be," Draco replied with a chuckle, "I want you downstairs and at the table in ten minutes young man!"

Scorpius gave no reply, but Draco headed off down the stairs anyway. Once in the kitchen he began to make some of his son's favorite chocolate chip pancakes. Scorpius appeared about ten minutes later with wet hair and scowl on his face. It was clear that Scorpius was not a morning person. However, his face lit up when he saw what his father had made him for breakfast.

"You are the best, dad," Scorpius stated, sitting down at the kitchen table and immediately digging into his pancakes.

"Can I get that in writing?" Draco asked with a coy grin as he sipped his tea.

"Very funny," Scorpius replied, rolling his eyes.

Five minutes later found Draco apparating Scorpius to Malfoy Manor and greeting his mother hastily, before hurrying off to his meeting with Headmistress McGonagall. Once at Hogwarts, Draco headed to the teacher's lounge where the meeting was to take place with all of the other staff.

"It is so good to see you all gathered here again after such a wonderful holiday," Professor McGonagall stated when all of the teachers were seated around the oak table, "It is with a heavy heart that I announce to you all that I have finally decided it is time for me to retire. I have grown old and I feel that I should spend the remaining years of my life relaxing and enjoying a quiet life."

The teachers were all stunned into silence for several moments before they all spoke at once voicing their opinions. Professor McGonagall silenced them all at once by raising her right hand.

"Now I know that this is sudden," Professor McGonagall replied, "But it is truly what I believe is for the best."

"Who will replace you as Head of the school?" Professor Greengrass asked.

"Well the Ministry has decided that they have the best suitor for the job. He is currently the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation," Professor McGonagall replied and before she could continue Draco cut her off.

"Blaise Zabini?" Draco shouted in surprise.

xxx

Down in Wiltshire at the Malfoy Manor Scorpius was combing through the massive library that took up the majority of the right wing on the third story of the house. Scorpius was fascinated by all of the books that his Grandparents own and couldn't even fathom why anyone would need so many, since it was clearly impossible for one person to read them all.

Walking further into the library Scorpius found that there was a door that was slightly open. Throwing caution to the wind, he opened the door believing that he would find another room full of books. However, the only content of the room was a massive stone basin. Upon further inspection, Scorpius saw that the stone basin was filled with swirling liquid. Leaning down to get a closer look at the liquid, he had the sudden sensation of falling through the liquid and down into a room below.

Looking around, Scorpius soon realized that he was looking a much younger version of his father, his grandfather and his grandmother. There were several other people in the room too and one suspiciously looked like his friend Albus' father, Harry Potter. The man was bloodied and his face was swollen, but some of the distinct features of the man's face were present such as his bright green eyes. Scorpius was very confused as to why Harry Potter was there and tied up to several other people and one goblin that all looked worse for wear.

As the scene played out, which Scorpius was growing highly suspicious that it was a memory, Scorpius watched in horror. He couldn't believe that such a woman, who he believed was named Bellatrix, could be so evil. She was literally carving the word 'mudblood' into the girl's arm and his father, grandfather and grandmother were doing absolutely nothing to stop her. Scorpius' stomach seemed to plummet at the realization that they were just going to let this girl die at the hands of someone so evil and twisted.

While Scorpius was watching the girl lay limp on the floor, Scorpius felt a hand on his back. Before he could turn around and see who it was, he was pulled upwards and landed once more in the small room off of the library in Malfoy Manor.

"What do you think you were doing?" a voice asked, that Scorpius quickly recognized as his grandfather.

"Get away from me!" Scorpius yelled in reply.

"What?" Lucius asked confused, he hadn't yelled at Scorpius like he would have if he had caught Draco in his pensieve.

"Get away from me! I never want to see you again!" Scorpius yelled while stepping backwards, "You let her die! How could you do that! What did she ever do to you?"

Before Lucius could reply to his grandson's question, Scorpius turned and ran as fast as he could to get as much space between him and his grandfather as possible. Luck was on Scorpius' side and he soon found the front door to the Manor and quickly ran out. As he was running down the front lawn, Scorpius ran right into his father who was returning from his meeting at Hogwarts.

"Whoa! Hello there Scorpius," Draco stated, trying to balance his son so he wouldn't fall over, "Where are you running to?"

"Get off of me!" Scorpius yelled, disgust seeping through every word.

"What?" Draco asked confused, yet letting go of his son all the same.

"You let her die and you did absolutely nothing to help her!" Scorpius yelled.

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked, still unsure as to what they were having a conversation, or in Scorpius' case a shouting match, about.

Scorpius chose to once again turn and start running instead of answering. Draco stood in shock for a second, before coming to his senses and running after his son. Unfortunately for him, Scorpius was a very fast runner. After several minutes Draco was forced to slow down, his chest killing him. His pain was a result of the damage of the Sectumsempra spell that Harry used on him. It was never able to heal properly because it was such a dark spell, and his pain came back if he exerted himself too much.

Draco watched in horror as his son flagged down the Knight Bus and got on. The bus disappeared with a flash, taking his son far away from him. It took a moment for Draco to realize that he too could flag down the Knight Bus and that Scorpius was probably still on it. However, when he reached into his pocket he found that he had dropped his wand somewhere in all of his running. Draco was forced to search for the wand along the path as his son got further and further away from him.

**So please review and let me know what you thought of the chapter! I will hopefully get the next chapter up soon. I will probably have quick updates until September 1****st**** when I leave for Italy for three months. I'm sure I will have down time and still write and post while I'm there though.**


	2. Coward

**So I'm posting this second chapter because a couple people added the story to their favorites or put it on story alert. I hope you guys enjoy this and please let me know what you think of it. **

**Chapter 2 Coward**

It took Draco about ten minutes to finally track down his wand. It was laying half covered by a bush close to the gates of the Manor. By this time both Lucius and Narcissa were outside and walking towards their son to find out what had just happened. Draco immediately turned on his father as he approached.

"What the hell did you do to my son?" Draco yelled in complete outrage, "He just ran off and I have no idea where he went! This is your entire fault! You sick, evil, twisted, good-for-nothing, crazy…"

Before Draco could finish all of the adjectives that he felt described his father, Narcissa cut his rant off with a firm, "Draco Lucius Malfoy! Stop yelling at your father and listen to him. You aren't getting any nearer to finding Scorpius by telling him all of the words that you feel describe him."

Draco nodded and the two turned expectantly towards Lucius.

"I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I can tell you all that I know. Scorpius told me that he wanted to see our library because he couldn't believe that we had as many books as I told him we did. I led him to the library and then I received an owl from the Ministry that I had to answer. I figured he couldn't get into too much trouble if I left him alone in the library for a little bit. When I got back I found him in one of the study rooms in my pensieve. I pulled him out and asked him what he was thinking, but I promise you that I didn't hurt him in any way! He then started yelling at me to stay away and something about how I let some girl die or something," Lucius explained.

"What memory do you have in that pensieve?" Draco asked, afraid to hear the answer.

"I don't know, I have several in the house and I don't remember what memory I placed where," Lucius replied.

"Well that sounds like a great place to start then," Narcissa replied.

The three headed into the Manor and up to the library. When they got there and walked through the doors of the small study with the pensieve, Draco froze. Narcissa was immediately by her son's side trying to figure out what was wrong.

"I know what memory he saw. It's not your memory, father…it's mine," Draco stated, his heart pounding in his chest, "I put it there the night that it happened because I didn't really want to deal with it being in the forefront of my mind….it's the night that Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were captured by the Snatchers and brought here…the night that Aunt Bellatrix almost killed Granger."

"That must have been the girl that he was claiming we let die," Lucius responded after a moment's silence, "I had to of pulled him out before he saw them escaping."

Draco slumped down on to the floor and started crying in defeat into his hands.

"I knew this would happen! I knew one day he would find out more about my past and would come to resent me for it," Draco sobbed into his hand.

Narcissa immediately dropped down on the floor and attempted to comfort her son. She rubbed his back and whispered repeatedly that everything would be okay. Lucius stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Reluctantly he sat down on the other side of Draco and patted his shoulder. At that moment a stag patronus soared through the window and stopped in front of the small family before stating in a deep voice, "So I thought that I should let you know that Scorpius just showed up on my doorstep and he was a complete mess. Ginny is with him trying to calm him down at the moment. All I got out of him was that you didn't know where he was and that he had run away from Malfoy Manor. I know it's not my place to say, but maybe you should give him a couple hours before coming over. I think it might do some good at the moment for him to let this out to someone outside of the family. See you soon."

Draco took in a deep shaky breath, relieved at the fact that his son's location was no longer unknown. Narcissa continued to rub her son's back in attempt to relieve some of his pain, even though she knew that attempt was probably fruitless.

"Well at least we know where he is now, Draco," Narcissa pointed out, "Let him calm down a bit like Harry said and then go and talk things over."

"But what if he doesn't want to have anything to do with me?"

"You need to let him know that the Granger girl didn't die and is still today very much alive," Narcissa supplied, "I'm sure that will make things at least a little better."

"Oh yeah, because the fact that Hermione Granger didn't die here makes things look spectacular! Letting Bellatrix torture people in front of our eyes and not doing anything to stop her is canceled out by the fact that she didn't die! I'm so glad I see things clearly now, mother," Draco replied, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"Do not take that tone with your mother!" Lucius scolded from Draco's side, "She is only trying to help you."

"Sorry," Draco replied while looking down at his hands, feeling as if he was back in his seven year old self: being scolded by his father for his 'misbehavior.'

"Well I personally think that we should give Scorpius about two or three hours to calm down, so in that time how about we go sit in the garden and you can fill us in on your meeting at Hogwarts today," Narcissa suggested.

Draco reluctantly agreed, knowing that he wouldn't really be able to do anything else productive given the mental state he was in at the moment.

xxx

Scorpius sat on the couch feeling ridiculously embarrassed that he had just shown up at his friend's house sobbing, granted he hadn't seen Albus or James…but it was still embarrassing. At the moment, Mrs. Potter was in the kitchen making them some tea so that they could sit down and talk about what was going on along with Mr. Potter. Scorpius wasn't sure that he wanted to tell them what he was feeling, but he figured it couldn't hurt to hear their perspective on his father throughout the war.

"So Scorpius, what has gotten you so upset?" Ginny asked, sitting down on the couch next to her son's best friend.

"Well…it's probably stupid…but I just found out something about my father and I can't believe that he could be so…cruel and heartless," Scorpius replied, refusing to look anywhere but at the coffee table that sat in front of him with his cup of tea set on a coaster.

"What did you find out and how did you find it out?" Harry asked softly, before taking a sip of his own tea.

"Well…er—I was at Malfoy Manor and I was looking around the library. I found this side room and it had this weird stone basin thing in it. The basin was full of this swirling liquid and I went to look at it more closely…" Scorpius began to explain.

"You found your father or grandfather's pensieve I take it," Harry asked when Scorpius stopped talking for a moment.

"I found their what?"

"A pensieve is an object where a person's memories are placed so that they can comb through them and often study them more closely. Some people place the memories that they don't want at the forefront of their mind in them."

"Oh…then yes I found their pensieve," Scorpius replied.

"What memory did you fall into?"

"I'm not quite sure what it was, but I think it took place at Malfoy Manor. The room looked like the style of the rest of the Manor," Scorpius explained, "Well there were a bunch of people and a goblin tied up in the middle of the room and they were trying to figure out if this one guy was you, Mr. Potter. Then some crazy woman with dark messy hair found some sword and went nuts. After sending everyone to the cellar, she started torturing this woman she kept calling 'mudblood.' I watched as my father, grandfather and grandmother stood there and watched as she slowly killed this girl! How could he not do anything?"

Tears were beginning to course down Scorpius' face again, and Scorpius tried to stop them by brushing them away with the back of his hand. Ginny immediately put her arm around the pale blonde boy to comfort him. Harry walked over and knelt down in front of him.

"First off, I want you to know that the girl is one of my best friends. Her name is Hermione Granger and you must not have seen the whole memory because she lived and she is still alive today," Harry stated softly, placing his hand on the boy's knee, "And second I need you to understand this: that was not your father's fault. He was not the one who was crazy—Bellatrix Lestrange gets that award."

"He still should have at least attempted to try and stop her," Scorpius protested.

"Maybe yes and maybe no," Harry replied, "She would not have been above killing someone in her own family if they got in her way. I will tell you this too, I owe your father and grandmother my life."

"But I still don't understand how he could stand there and watch someone be tortured!" Scorpius replied.

"And that right there is why you are a Gryffindor," Harry replied, "We put the lives and well-being of others in front of ourselves."

"So my father would stand there and watch as someone tortured me in order to save his own life?" Scorpius asked, looking up at Harry with wide eyes.

Ginny took to answering that question, "Your father loves you more than anything else in the world Scorpius and that includes his own life. I think you may be the one and only exception to his Slytherin mentality."

Scorpius sighed and shook his head. He knew that what they were saying should make him feel better…but it didn't. He didn't think that he could ever look at his father the same way again. He knew that if he was in his father's place he would have done something. There was no doubt in his mind that he couldn't stand there and watch someone be tortured and not do anything to stop it. His father was truly a coward, and Scorpius couldn't believe that he ever saw his father as being any other way.

**Hope you enjoyed it! **


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